Congrats to My Earth Day Client!

April 23, 2013 Leave a Comment

JWR Inc, Johnson Creek, WI

It’s been online for a while, but there’s no better time than the week of Earth Day to congratulate JWR Inc. on their new website! And how fitting, considering JWR and its sister company NewWay Global are innovative leaders in the waste and recycling industry. They are my 2013 Earth Day clients!

Last year, the JWR marketing team came to me wanting an updated website. I did their site five years ago and it has served them well. It’s helped them earn recognition and they’ve built a reputation based on their quality products and reliable service. With this company image well established, JWR now wants to emphasize its forward thinking. As owner Dave Wolf says “JWR has always been successful with niche products. We’re always trying to be a year or two ahead of the game.”

What better way to communicate such eco-moxiness than a new website!

JWR’s team had a list of ideas of “must-haves” for their site. Earlier this year they were featured on The Environmental Report so they wanted a way to showcase this and any future videos. They wanted a responsive layout for a variety of communication devices. And they wanted to maintain their own content. Thanks to Ben Seigel, of Versa Studios, we came up with a great Expression Engine framework that allows easy CMS capabilities. JWR is doing a super job with it.

So congratulations JWR! And happy Earth Day to you!

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Wednesday Webs 2-9-11

February 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

Today I’m working at my office on 1st and Pittsburg. Looking out the window, there are old, manufacturing buildings everywhere, many of them now repurposed in new ways. Sad that not all buildings can be renovated as they age and maintained for a dignified usefulness.

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Communication Isn’t Just for the Birds

September 23, 2010 Leave a Comment

Every year about this time we get birds lining up on the wires. In August, it’s barn swallows. In September, its mourning doves. They sit on the wires and chatter, chatter, chatter away. When my kids were young, I told them the birds were discussing their migratory route.

Communication isn’t just for the birds. When you’re working with a graphic designer, how the two of you communicate makes all the difference. Poor communication can bomb the project. Good communication makes it soar.

Lately, I’ve been working with NewWay Global Energy and the folks there have done a super job communicating.

Right from the get-go, NewWay’s Carrie, Cory, Dave and Mona knew their product, their audience and their marketing objectives. Together we brainstormed the logo and website they wanted me to create, and they showed me samples they liked and didn’t like.

Here are some of the things we discussed:

  • Because NewWay is a subsidiary of JWR, Inc., logos for both companies need to share a commonality. We did this by taking JWR’s swoosh, reversing it and putting it in front of NewWay’s name.
  • NewWay’s product is a cutting edge waste-to-energy system. Their logo and website need a confident, clean, natural, and earth-friendly look. We chose a bold typeface for the NewWay name; a contrasting, very round type for Global Energy; and a clean, san-serif type for the website content.
  • Carrie, Cory, Dave and Mona wanted the logo done in green and blue. But not just any green and blue. They had specifics for me, which was so helpful because, after all, my idea of green could easily be different from theirs. We could have wasted a lot of time going back and forth before hitting it right.

So what colors did they like?

Mountain Dew green and Chex Mix blue. Way to go, Carrie, Cory, Dave and Mona!

NewWay Global Energy, Johnson Creek, WI

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Energy in a New Way

September 16, 2010 2 Comments

NewWay Global Energy, Johnson Creek, WI

Here’s a project I was real excited to take on—a new company making a new kind of energy!

NewWay Global Energy is a subsidiary of JWR, Inc., a leading waste and recycling management company. I’ve done web design work for JWR in the past and when they asked me to help brand their new company, I was totally honored. Honored for two reasons: I love being part of new ventures and I really love people putting their brains together for alternative earth-saving ideas. NewWay Global Energy is doing just that.

But first, since I’m not at all scientific, I had some major research to do!

NewWay is a front-running company working to develop the first pyrolysis-based waste-to-energy recycling plant in the U.S. In this case, pyrolysis is the decomposition of non-recyclable materials by use of high, oxygen-free temperatures. NewWay’s system not only addresses the problem of overflowing landfills, it also creates an energy alternative to the fossil fuels we’re so quickly depleting.

This is awesome!

So check out NewWay’s home page. And mark this innovative new company as one to follow—we’ll be adding pages in the weeks ahead!

Need a website for your new company? Give me a holler!

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JWR, Inc., Johnson Creek, WI

June 16, 2008 1 Comment

JWR Inc

JWR Web Site Goes Live!

After many months of diligent teamwork, JWR Inc., of Johnson Creek, Wis., is making its new online debut.

JWR is one of the nation’s leading waste and recycling companies. Starting in 1972 as a small welding and repair shop, JWR is now a major provider of recycling equipment and service to manufacturing, retail, health, food and other industries.

JWR management was looking for a total redesign of its previous website. They wanted a clean, clear and contemporary site that educates viewers of waste and recycling needs and sells JWR as the solution.

As a progressive and growing company, JWR regularly communicates its news to the public. It also offers ongoing sales of used equipment. To do this, JWR staff wanted access to their website yet didn’t want to “mess up any coding.” Together, we incorporated Contribute, a content management program by Adobe, that allows staff to maintain their site to the degree they wish.

This proved to be a most interesting project! In addition to learning the ropes of waste and recycling, I feel environmentally green in my contribution to a viable and sustainable industry.

www.jwrinc.net

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